Genderequality settles in at home, but not in certain jobs

September 25, 2008

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Pew also looked outside the home and found many people arejust as comfortable dealing with a man or woman in certain jobs, includingdoctor, banker, lawyer, police officer, airline pilot, teacher andsurgeon.

Linda Basch, president of the New York City-based NationalCouncil for Research on Women, a network of research and policy centers, saysthe poll's responses appear to mirror our changing society.

"It showsthat increasingly men, as well as women, see women taking on leadershippositions and non-traditional roles, and see women having important leadershiptraits," she says.

Men are still preferred in some jobs

Among specific jobs, findings are mixed. Men were preferred in somepositions, such as airline pilot, surgeon, police officer and attorney, whilewomen were favored for elementary school teacher and banker. With doctors,women favored a woman, and men preferred a man.

"It's also still the casewhen we see women in these non-traditional positions, and we still use the word'woman' as an adjective — a dentist or a woman dentist. Withmen, we don't notice gender as much as we do with women," Kimmel says. "It'snot necessarily negative, but it's a way those stereotypes still float aroundin our heads."

Psychology professor David Vogel of Iowa State was thelead author of the study published last year in the Journal of CounselingPsychology that showed wives had greater marital power at home. He saysgender is intertwined in any discussion of power andrelationships.

"There's a myth out there that men are the heads ofhouseholds and make the decisions, and that's it, but real life isn't likethat, from what I see," says Murphy, Vogel's co-author. "It's more of agive-and-take and a negotiation. The vast majority of what I see is a much morenuanced decision-making process."

READERS: Are some jobs bettersuited for men or women? Are some decisions? Share your viewsbelow: